Mice are such an essential part of our computing experience that I suspect we often take them for granted. Having a comfortable and easy to use mouse can make using your computer a pleasure, and having the wrong mouse can make using your computer a literal pain. Logitech has come out with a new mouse that may make using a computer a lot more fun. The V550 Cordless Laser Mouse for Notebooks touts Hyper-Fast Scrolling and a Nano Receiver.

Features

• Clip-and-Go dock
• Storable Plug-and-Forget Nano-receiver
• 18 months of battery life
• Advanced 2.4 GHz wireless
• Hyper-fast scrolling

The V550 includes several new innovations and one of these is the Clip-and-go dock. The Clip-and-go dock is a small knob that you attach to your Notebook. When you are ready to take your Notebook somewhere you can easily attach the mouse to the dock and carry it with you. No more dropping your mouse because it falls off your notebook or stuffing it into your pocket.

The Nano receiver is one of my favorite parts of this mouse. The Nano receiver is so small that you could easily plug it into your Notebook and leave it there forever. It is so small that you can still put your Notebook into its bag without removing the receiver. If for some reason you need to remove the Nano receiver there is a spot inside the mouse where you can store it.

The batteries that you place inside the mouse can last as long as 18 months. This is achieved with several battery saving features. The first is a power button. This power button allows you to turn the mouse off when it is not being used. The second way is when it is clipped to the dock it automatically turns off. The third is when the Nano receiver is stored inside the mouse it also turns off.

The next new feature is the Hyper-fast scrolling. When enabled this feature allows you to flick the scroll wheel and let it spin. The wheel will spin for several seconds while the pages on your long documents zoom by on the screen.

The use of advanced 2.4 GHz wireless technology reduces interference, which means the signal to your computer is never interrupted.

Design

Despite all the new features that are on this mouse, the V550’s design is nothing spectacular. In fact, it is rather plain. The top of the mouse is a solid white color with a scroll wheel at the top, a small blue button right below the scroll wheel, and a small battery indicator light below the button. The default behavior of the button is to open web links in a new tab.

The bottom only has a couple of notable features. The first is the power button, which is used to manually turn the mouse on and off. Normally you don’t need to use this because when the mouse is docked or when the receiver is stored it automatically turns off, and when the receiver is plugged in to a computer it automatically turns on.

The back of the mouse has a single button which opens the bottom. In the bottom you put in the batteries, and there is also a spot to store the Nano receiver.

Logitech also included a Desktop USB extension stand for the Nano receiver. The only possible use for this would be if your only available USB port is really far away, like on the back of a desktop computer that is on the floor. Using the dock would allow you to put the Nano receiver on your desk and still have it plugged in. However, this should be completely unnecessary because the mouse is not suppose to be susceptible to interference. Using the extension stand also defeats the purpose of having the Nano receiver because its best feature is to just plug it in and forget about it. I cannot see a good reason for it, and if getting rid of it could save the consumer a couple of bucks, I am all for it.

Performance

Testing the mouse is very straight forward. I skipped all the basic stuff and went directly to the new features. The first feature I tested is the Hyper-scrolling. Hyper-scrolling is used for moving through large documents really, really fast. To activate Hyper Scrolling all you have to do is press down hard on the mouse wheel until you hear a big click. At this point the mouse wheel will spin freely. All you have to do is click on a document and give the wheel a good spin. In one of my best spins I was able to get the mouse wheel to spin for 23 seconds. To find out how many pages that equals I created a 500 page document, set my cursor at the top and spun the wheel. By the time the wheel stopped I had gone through 363 pages of the document. This is astounding, to go through that many pages with a normal scroll would take forever.

I could not fully test the batteries because I have not had the mouse for 18 months, but if I remember I will try and post a comment when the batteries do finally run out.

More functionality is also available from this mouse if you download Logitech’s software. I found it a bit odd that they did not include it on a CD or something, but it is easy enough to download it. Some of the things you can do with the software are configure the buttons, change the sensitivity of the scroll wheel, and check the battery status.

Warranty

The warranty on this mouse is a 3-year limited hardware warranty. For a mouse this is a great warranty. I cannot think of any other device, besides my keyboard, that takes as much of a beating as my mouse. Now if something goes wrong, I know the mouse can be repaired or replaced.

Conclusion

I really like this mouse. I would have liked it more if it was a bit smaller and more portable, but for a full size mouse it has lots of great features. I especially like the Nano receiver because of how small it is. I don’t often have to go through large documents, but if I do I look forward to using Hyper-Scrolling. I can highly recommend this Mouse to anyone with a Notebook, or any other kind of computer. I am giving this mouse my Gold Award because of all the innovative features that it has, and the great warranty that Logitech provides.

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